On 10/10/22 11:35, Thaddeus Waldner wrote:
The reason why PLA and PETG work so well with 3D printers in the first place is
due to their low thermal expansion coefficient and relatively low melting
temperature.
My experience is that PETG is the quickest way to separate the men from
the boys. I have a house full of 3d printers
that have all self destructed when asked to live on a steady diet of
PETG. Right now I have two printers that fit the just
works description, an $800 Prusa MK3S+ I've put a bondtech LGX extruder
and a mosquito hot end in, which brings
that printer up to about $1400 for total outgo.
And an Ender 5 Plus with much the same story, as I just put a whole new
4 wheel carriage on it I designed and printed
in PETG+CF, carrying an ldo orbiter v2 extruder on top of the brand new
creality Spider hotend with a 70 watt heater in it.
Its bed is very slow to heat, 6 to 7 minutes to get to 80C for PETG. So
I heat it first. Its currently working well with
PETG+CF in it, making parts for a woodworkers vise screw, 8 up.
And while I was debating on what to do with the ender, I bought a
tronxy-400, but I'm still fighting with them over
a data cable long enough to reach the display if I mount it higher than
the bottom rail as I put casters on it and
its on the floor. That's a very impressive printer, no POM wheels, solid
steel wheels on good bearings on everything.
They actually make it in 500mm cubed and 600mm cubed for a bit over
$1100. That one comes with casters as it
lives on the floor.But I suspect it will at least need the 300C rated
Creality Spider hot end, and for sure will need
more bed power as its around 11 minutes to an 80C bed. I am a CET, so
that is not a problem to rig the bed heat power
as a signal for a 40 amp SSR switching line power to heat the bed. That
will leave enough power to run a 70 watt heater
in the hotend. But I've got to get it someplace where I don't have to
lay on the floor to run it. At 88 yo, getting back up
off the floor is a PITA with a knee that dislocates itself w/o any great
effort.
PC is much more difficult to print because it has a higher melting temperature
and a higher thermal expansion coefficient. My experience with straight PC is
that it will not print reliably unless you have an enclosure that you can bring
up to near the glass transition temperature. This keeps the freshly-laid
plastic from shrinking excessively because it doesn’t cool down as much. But
more importantly, the whole part remains somewhat soft, so the shrinking forces
are more easily overcome by your bed adhesion.
That's a problem with the ender 5 plus, I've ditched the bltouch in
favor of a steel bed sheet and an inductive sensor,
the finish on the bed sheet is as rough as a house shingle, and if it
sticks at all, I can't get a sharpened putty knife
under it to remove failed prints. To get good adhesion, I've got to
bring the diamondback nozzle down to not more
that .05mm or less clearance. A cash register slip is still too thick to
be a usable gauge.
After this job is done, next is a trip to the kitchen sink and scrub
hell out of it with comet or babo to put more microscratches
on it to improve adhesion. That's the best treatment I've found for poor
adhesion so far. And keep your fingerprints off it.
If you have a nice enough printer, I hear say you can even print stuff like
PEEK.
My experience is also that “high temperature build envelope” is also the thing
that makes 3d printers much more expensive.
That's where a trip to Lowes for DIY stuff comes in. ;o)>
Take care and stay well, Thaddeus, and thanks.
Cheers, Gene Heskett.
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author, 1940)
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Genes Web page <http://geneslinuxbox.net:6309/>
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